The Washington Capitals have rolled into town, and with them comes the very real threat that they're going to put up a TERRIFYING number of goals.

It's not so much the first and second periods that are particularly HORRIBLE for the Flames, but that last one has given them a HELL of a time recently. In the third periods of the last two games, Calgary has been outscored 5-1 and looked positively MONSTROUS in doing so against two teams that aren't exactly overflowing with offense.

The fact is, Calgary doesn't know how to BURY its competition, and against a team with firepower like Washington, that could be a KILLER. Especially in the last period, where it is tied for, well, third in the league with 12 goals in 10 games. It has that many in the first two periods combined. Meanwhile, Calgary has conceded more goals than that in its 10 third periods, with, appropriately for tonight, 13. That's tied for worst in the league with Atlanta and the Rangers, though New York has allowed that many in just nine contests.

Worse, Calgary's offense has been driven by its secondary scoring far more than its stars, who have been absolute GHOSTS for awhile, as Brent Sutter pointed out angrily the other night. Meanwhile, Robyn Regehr and Ian White were a combined minus-6 in these last two games.

And now we're counting on them to put up a fight against Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, Laich, and so forth. That could be GHASTLY news if the current trends continue.

On the other hand, Brent Sutter's words likely did not fall on DEAD deaf ears. Calgary should be amped up and ready to go tonight. This is the end of the Caps' three-game road trip, and they've gone from Carolina to Minnesota to Calgary since Wednesday. They could be DEAD — there we go — tired, and that may work to the Flames' advantage.

Let's just hope tonight doesn't SUCK (your blood?).

Yer ol' buddy Lambert is handsome and great and everyone loves him. Also you can visit his regular blog at The Two-Line Pass or follow him on Twitter. Lucky you!

Im actually going to use my seats tonight. Couple of the kids I coach are big time OV8 fans. we met him earlier and the guys a brick sh*thouse, thick, thick, thick.
In honor of an argument on an earlier thread I shall deem this the cherry picker cup. Ha!

Bad call on the Tanguay goal, plus Tanguay was clipped with a high stick. But there's no excuse for completely quitting following that. And let's not forget...it was 5-2 at that point.

Completely true, and this is the type of game which reminds me why I thought the Flames would miss the playoffs this year. They gave me a little hope there for a few games (and probably will again at points in the season), but unless Iginla turns back the clock about 4 years and Jokinen remembers how to play hockey, it's going to be a long ugly season.

I realize I could take some heat here, but I'll say it anyways. Why not trade Jerome Iginla for some young talent? Obviously he's not playing up to his $7 million contract. If you wait to trade him much longer, his value is only getting worse. Now, it could take some searching to find a team to take his contract, but why not. Big deal, he's the face of the franchise; great in the community ect., but what happens when this team is playing like crap 2 years from now and he's got 5 points in game #15? You'll get nothing for him and wish you traded him back in 2010.

One point I wanted to make and forgot, it is not the coaching that is the problem. They have had how many different coaches in the last 5-6 years? 4? 5? It is the so called "core" that needs to be fired, not the coach. Just my opinion, might not be correct but boy is this team getting frustrating to watch. I hate being hungover after every game from all the rye I have to drink to make these games enjoyable!

Playfair was an awesome coach. He was apparently in charge of systems, and while there's no real innovation in that area... he worked within himself, didn't think he was smarter than he was, and let the players make a ton of decisions out there.